Andy Rodker's photos

A large natural park to the northwest of Madrid, home of a major royal palace.

Godrevy again, but it is an addictive place! This must be one of my favourite shots of it. The sea surging over the left-hand rock does it for me!

Probably only used for storage now. There is a modern farmhouse (60s I would think) next door where the farmer and family live. This is the closest farm to the ancient sites of Chun Quoit and Chun Castle, and where you park your car before trudging uphill. There used to be an 'honesty box', in the car park for suggested token car park fees but that was stolen years ago!

Porthcurno, The Logan Rock, Cornwall

Peonies. In the background: the Convento de San Antonio and The Sierra de La Cabrera (L to R Canchos Largo, Gordo and de La Bola).

From a former flat in Hortaleza, Madrid. This hasn't been posted before. There were 2 or 3 posted on Pano and one here from the same sunrise, but all at different stages.

Sierra de La Cabrera on a very hot day with the sun at its highest (they won't open otherwise!). Wild tulips were thought to come from Turkey and the near east. But they are native to much of the Mediterranean world. Their idiosyncratic habitats meant that they they weren't found in Western Europe until recently. They need well drained schist -like slopes (degraded granite will do) and unstable scree-slopes suit them very well, another reason why they weren't recorded until recently.

A favourite stone/rock/boulder of mine. La Sierra de La Cabrera

Taken with my trusty old Russian 35mm on my very first day of rock climbing aged 14! A scanned slide. Down below are the famed vineyards of Gigondas.

Not sure that it works all that well. What do you think?

I don't tire of this place!

On the site of Camp Cameron, the US Army's base in England for black service personnel in WWII, suitably distant from main centres of population. The thinking probably was that 1000s of black servicemen would frighten the natives. OK to send them to fight and die though! Nothing whatsoever remains of this camp! Joe Louis wrote that he spent the most boring few years of his life here! He probably wasn't a fan of shasta daisies!

My low tide coastal shoreline walk at about the halfway mark. Mussels cling to the rocks. A bit small at this time of year but as it was September 1st, quite OK to collect them! (In Britain there is a saying that you should only eat oysters when there is an 'r' in the month; therefore August - no, September - yes. I know these aren't oysters but I stick to the same reasoning to do with their spawning season!)

Granite throws up eccentric forms! La Sierra de La Cabrera. Madrid Province.

From near the town of La Cabrera itself. The start of a steep and interestingly challenging ascent. The paths at the other end of the ridge are longer, steeper in parts but not so eroded and risky.

The rose garden, El Retiro Park

Surfers would love this place but they have a problem; getting their boards down to this beach. Some do but very few! There are no 'friendly ' paths down: you need to know how to get here and then it is only possible at low tide. Not worth it when you can go to the Cornish surfing capital of Newquay a few miles up the coast!

Fence at the boundary of the Scorrier House estate. Near Saint Day, Cornwall. I did see the blue plastic bag and I did pick it up and dispose of it in a suitable place. (Well my Spanish girlfriend insisted I did, anyway!)